Makeup is for everyone. In today’s times, everyone can and should consider trying makeup, irrespective of gender, profession, or age. The power of makeup is truly undeniable. It not only makes you look good, it also boosts your self-confidence. And most importantly, with the options that we have today, makeup has become affordable for everyone.
But, as with any other activity, doing makeup is also a skill. The same makeup style or products might not work for everyone. The type of makeup and the products that you should use usually depends on the weather, climate of a place, skin tone and a lot of other factors. To achieve a flawless makeup or look, you need to understand the correct procedure and choose the right product for you.
No matter which products you choose, doing makeup involves some steps which need to be followed. Knowing these foundational steps is not only necessary but also important to achieve the best possible results. No wonder, professional makeup artists are well-paid these days, just because they excel at this increasingly popular and in-demand skill.
However, as per my experience, it’s not rocket science. Anyone can learn this skill with a little bit of effort and practice. In this post, I am going to post some of the basic things that we need to do to get started with your makeup journey.
Use a cleanser
The first step is to get your skin squeaky clean before you start your makeup session. This is required to avoid your skin breaking out or clogging your pores.
Use a toner
After you are done with the cleansing part, applying a toner helps in minimising the pores and keeps your skin healthy and hydrated. Toner also helps in maintaining the pH balance of your skin.
Use a moisturiser
At this step, it is important to study or determine your skin type. Take your time to prep your skin properly, so that after you are done with your makeup, the foundation won’t look cakey or separated. Here are some of the options to moisturise your skin according to your skin type.
Face mist
It’s a water based product that is used to hydrate normal skin type to look and feel fresh throughout the day. Although face mists won’t act as a moisturiser, it will help your skin absorb the moisturiser better.
Serums
Serums usually come in liquid form and feel very light on the skin. These go well if you have a normal or oily skin type, as this will give you the right amount of hydration.
Cream
If you have super dry skin (think Sahara Desert), you will need a heavy cream based moisturiser. Thick creamy moisturisers will provide the required hydration to your skin throughout the day.
Oils
Oils are best used for skins that are either dry or very dry skin type. Keep in mind that oils usually contain large molecules, if you are planning to put moisturiser and oil both on your skin, make sure to apply moisturiser first before using oil. This double moisturisation will provide all the hydration that your skin will demand.
Under eye cream
The skin near the eyes is very thin. To moisturise this area of your skin, moisturisers are not recommended, as they will not penetrate effectively the thin skin around the eyes. Instead, using an eye cream or serum is more effective as they contain smaller molecules, and are more effective in moisturising the skin around the eyes.
Use a sunscreen
Whether you plan to stay indoor or outdoor, or how the weather is, sunscreen (minimum of 30 SPF) is a must for your screen. Sunscreens protect your skin from UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays cause premature skin aging while UVB rays are responsible for tanning and sunburns.
Most of the makeup products do claim to provide some amount of protection from these harmful rays, it’s always advisable to use sunscreen during the daytime. A good thumb rule to keep in mind: always use 2 finger-full amounts of your favourite sunscreen for your face area, neck and ears. If you need to stay outdoors for a long time, it’s better to give a second coat of sunscreen after 10 minutes.
Use a primer
A primer needs to be applied before you can start your makeup. A primer’s main role is to give a clean canvas to your skin, to make it smooth, so that any makeup you apply over it spreads evenly and sticks to your skin for long. Primers come in two varieties:
- Cream form: This is for normal or dry screen. It also gives a dewy look.
- Gel form: This is for oily skin, generally silicone based. This helps in controlling excess oil throughout the day and in filling out the pores in case you have visibly large pores.
Color correction
Not everyone is blessed with perfect skin. Many of us have some flaws in the form of pigmentation or breakouts. Color correctors can help hide these imperfections. These come in 9 different shades you can choose from based on your skin problems and skin tone.
- Peach corrector: Neutralises dark spots for light skin tone.
- Orange corrector: Neutralises dark spots for medium skin tone.
- Reddish corrector: Neutralises dark spots for dark skin tone.
- Light yellow corrector: Corrects dullness caused by purple/blue undertones and brightens under eye circles for fair skin tone.
- Yellow corrector: Corrects dullness caused by purple/blue undertones and brightens under eye circles for medium/dark skin tone.
- Mint corrector: Neutralises redness for fair/light skin tone.
- Green corrector: Neutralises redness for medium/dark skin tone.
- Lavender corrector: Neutralises unwanted yellow undertones and shallowness.
Loose powder
After colour correction, you will need to apply some loose powder so that it doesn’t move or crease. A layer of loose powder will give your skin a smooth surface for subsequent steps.
Foundation
This is a tricky part as you need to carefully choose the correct foundation shade, depending on your skin tone. Choosing the wrong foundation shade would make you look grayish or dark. Undertones can generally be categorised into 3 types:
Warm
When your veins colour appears to be green or olive. For such a skin tone, you need to choose a yellow or golden shade.
Cool
When your veins colour appears to be blue or purple. For such a skin tone, choose a pink shade.
Neutral
When your veins colour appears to be a mix of blue and green. A beige shade is recommended.
To choose the perfect shade, apply it to your jawline and neck, then start blending them. The one which disappears in the skin is the correct shade for your skin.
Concealer
Concealer is somewhat similar to foundation. The only difference is, concealers are thicker than foundation. In case you have minimal darkness around your eyes or have negligible amount of pigmentation on your skin, you can skip the colour correction step. Instead, use a concealer before applying the foundation.
Concealers are used to brighten up some of the areas like under the eyes, bridge of the nose, middle of your forehead and chin.
Contour
Once you are done with your base makeup, your face is now ready to add some dimensions to it. Contouring is a technique that can make your face look slim or chubby, as per your choice. Contours come in 3 forms: cream, powder and stick. Apply contour to places where you need your features to look sculpted and get a chiseled face. First apply the contour close to your hairline, then to the hollow of your skin bone, the jawline and finally on the sides of your nose.
Bronzer
Bronzer is a warm tone product that comes in a pressed powder form and cream as well. This step is optional. If you want to add some warmth to your skin colour and have that sun-kissed kind of a look, use a bronzer just above the areas where you have applied the contour.
Blush
Blush is used to add a flush of colours to the cheeks while giving it a natural hint of colours when you want a fresh look. The correct placement to apply the blush is in between where you applied your contour and cheekbone where we usually apply the highlighter. Start applying from the apple of your cheeks then blend towards your ears or temples if you want a lifted look.
Highlighter
Highlighters are shining shimmer products that come in pressed powder , liquid and cream form and are used to highlight the high points of your face like the bridge of your nose, cheekbone, inner corner of eyes, centre of forehead and on chins.
Its main purpose is to give the illusion of glossy/glow to the skin while making it pop as this product reflects light.
Eye makeup
This makeup product comes with different colours in a palette including shades of dark, light/neutral and glitters used to add colours to the eyes while making it more attractive. Eyeshadow helps to create different looks like smokey eyes, neutral eyes, bold colourful eyes.
The basic thumb rule is to either apply eye primer or light shade concealer all over your lid before you start eye makeup. Start with taking darker shade on the outer corner and blend towards the crease area, then take the lighter shade of the same colour taken for the outer corner. Keep defusing with that colour taking towards the inner corner of your eyes. Keeping almost 1-2 cm gap take a glitter shade and apply on the innermost corner of your eyes, and you simple yet an easy eye makeup is complete.
Eye liner and kajal
Kajal when applied on the upper and lower waterline of your eyes it enhances and defines your eyes while making it prominent.
Whereas, Eyeliner applied on the lash line gives an illusion of bigger eyes and makes it noticeable. The correct and right order is to draw the line as close as possible to the lash line. Its main purpose is to widen the shape of your eyes but it can also lift the shape upwards and make it look like almond.
Mascara
Mascara is used in eyelashes which helps in lifting your natural upper and lower eyelashes to make it lengthy, thick and dark too and also helps eyes look bigger as well. Just hold your Mascara wand across your eyes then wiggle it outward, keep doing this step until you get your desired look. Plus, this step will be more effective if you use an eyelash curler just before Mascara. It will hold your eyelashes lifted for long.
False lashes
These are fake lashes made-up of synthetic material. This step comes when you’re not satisfied with your eye lashes the way it looks after you’re done with your Mascara and still want them to look more noticeable then this is the product you’ll need. All you’ll need is a temporary lash glue to apply a thin layer on the eyelashes tip then just wait for a few seconds to make it tacky then apply it close to your natural upper eyelash line.
Lip liner
These liners come in pencil form to help outline the edges of your lips to make it even shape. By doing this step, it will act as a base for your lipstick, it won’t bleed and improves the longevity of the lipstick for long.
Lip liner basically helps in giving an illusion of fuller or bigger and smaller lips, depending if you are following your natural lip line then it will look exactly the way it is.
Lipstick
After you are done with your lip liner and satisfied with the desired result, now apply the lipstick following the illusion you have created with the liner. It will make you complete your look, define your lips and enhance your complexion as well.
Setting spray
This is an alcohol based liquid used at the end. Just hold the spray at a distance of 4 to 5 inches and spray all over your face. Wait for a few minutes and let it dry naturally. This will increase the longevity of your makeup by keeping it in place and preventing it from fading or creasing. Setting sprays come for both oily and dry skin. The ones that come for oily skins will give you a matte look all day and won’t make you greasy.
And you are done!
Donning the perfect makeup that not only looks good, but also stays intact for a long time needs skill, practice and a little bit of patience. And if done properly by following the steps and tips given above, I am sure it will make you feel more confident, young and noticeable. It’s not always about looking glamorous. My idea behind makeup is that it enhances your beauty.
Look good and feel beautiful.
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